"Country Ham And Bean Soup-Welcome Home

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• Ham Stock:
• 4 tablespoons butter or use bacon grease
• 1 onion diced
• 3 stalks of celery finely diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large ham hocks or ham shanks
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Soup:
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (30 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 pound of dry great Northern beans, rinsed and soaked overnight
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• Salt to taste

Details

Adapted from welcome-home-blog.net

Preparation

Step 1

For the Ham Stock:
In a large stock pot, melt butter or bacon grease over medium heat. Add diced onion, garlic, celery to pot and cook until tender. Next add your ham hock or shank and the water and chicken broth. Add in thyme and bay leaf and stir well. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Then reduce heat to simmer on low and cook for about three hours. Remove ham hock and set aside.

Pour the stock through a strainer and remove solids. If using right away, return to pot and prepare to make your soup. If not you can freeze it for later.

For the Soup:

Heat the oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven or large soup pot. Add chopped onion, celery and carrot; cook over medium until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and add the ham you picked from the ham shank or ham hock. Add mixture to soup pot and stir well to combine all ingredients.

Rinse and sort through the beans. Add to the pot, along with prepared ham stock. Add in diced tomatoes, cloves, bay leaves, brown sugar and garlic powder. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce your heat to low and cook for about 3½ hours or until beans are tender, checking every hour to make sure you add enough water to keep beans covered. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve hot with Cornbread!